Ch’in DynastyQin dynastyalso spelled Kin, Pinyin Qin(221–206 Wade-Giles romanization Ch’in(221–207 BC), dynasty that established the first great Chinese empire. The Ch’inQin, from which the name China is derived, established the approximate boundaries and basic administrative system that all subsequent Chinese dynasties were to follow for the next 2,000 years.

This dynasty was originated by the state of Ch’inQin, one of the many small feudal states into which China was divided between 771 and 221 BC. Occupying the strategic Wei River valley in the extreme northwestern area of the country, the Ch’in Qin was one of the least Sinicized of these small states and one of the most martial. Between the middle of the 3rd and the end of the 2nd century BC, the rulers of Ch’in Qin began to centralize state power, creating a rigid system of laws that were applicable throughout the country and dividing the state into a series of commanderies and prefectures ruled by officials appointed by the central government. Under these changes, Ch’in Qin slowly began to conquer its surrounding states, emerging into a major power in China.

Finally, in 247 246 BC, the boy king Chao Cheng Ying Zheng came to the throne. He, together with his minister Li SsuSi, completed the Ch’in Qin conquests and in 221 created the Ch’in Qin empire; Chao Cheng Ying Zheng proclaimed himself Ch’in Shih huang-ti Qin Shihuangdi (“First Sovereign Emperor of Ch’in”Qin”). To rule this vast territory, the Ch’in Qin instituted a rigid, authoritarian government; they standardized the writing system, standardized the measurements of length and weight and the width of highways, abolished all feudal privileges, built oversaw the construction of what became the Great Wall, and in 213, to halt subversive thought, ordered all books burned, except those on such utilitarian subjects as medicine.

These harsh methods, combined with the huge tax levies needed to pay for their construction projects and wars, took their toll, and rebellion erupted after Shih huang-ti’s Shihuangdi’s death in 210 BC. In 206 207 the dynasty was overthrown and, after a short transitional period, was replaced by the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220).

While it lasted, the Ch’in Qin dynasty left two architectural monuments of massive proportions, one the Great Wall of China, which actually connected sections of a number of existing short walls, and the other a great palace for the first emperor, which contained a hall of state some 1,500 feet (450 mmetres) square. Its most important artistic contribution may have been the simplification and standardization of the emerging written Chinese language. Little survives of Ch’in Qin painting, but it generally emulated that of the late ChouZhou period. Silhouettes drawn on funerary slabs depict feasts and beasts (mythical and actual) and historic scenes. The Ch’in, Qin tomb near present-day Xi’an, the burial place of Shihuangdi with an army of more than 6,000 life-size terra-cotta soldiers and horses, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. The Qin, however, did not last long enough to stamp out literature and learning effectively, and much of the rich legacy of the ancient Shang dynasty managed to pass on to survive into the successor Han, under which the arts thrived greatly.